Venicius of the 25th Century
by Jariss
Summary: See the fall of the old federation and the rise of a dictator. If you really like Deepspace 9 or the Next Generation, skip this book.


_Star Trek_

_Rise of Venicius_

By Garland Clark

The USS Flying Dutchman was scheduled to pickup some Starfleet personnel to be transferred to Rigel 12. Rigel 12 had been little more than a mining colony for ages but lately it was becoming a regular stop for merchants. Venicius hated transferring people around as though his ship was a toll ferry.

He looked at the brief on the pickup. It was none other than the stupid old Picard and his lame first officer. Venicius never liked Picard because was too busy brown-nosing and being Mr. nice guy. He lacked the talent for high pressure tactics. They were to be transferred to some research facility for reasons undisclosed. It really didn't matter though, he wouldn't have to have them onboard for long

The Flying Dutchman was way off in the Badlands monitoring for trouble with the Cardasians. Why Starfleet hadn't dealt with this problem was a mystery to Venicius. They were traveling at warp 8.5 toward their pickup point.

"Lieutenant commander Kim here, Captain, We'll be docking with Picard's shuttle in twenty minutes."

"Right I'll be in the shuttle bay, have Commander Pike meet me there."

Venicius wasn't looking forward to meeting Baldy. He knew it would be stiff and awkward. More importantly it was a waste of time that could be spent elsewhere.

The shuttle bay was large enough for four to five craft depending on the size. It carried a complement of three shuttles. Then the red alert sounded "Venicius to bridge, Commander what's going on?"

"The shuttle is being fired upon by a Ferengi Marauder of all the crazy thing!."

"On my way." Venicius was on the bridge moments later.

"Sir the shuttle is losing shields."

"Well don't just stand there, beam out the shuttle personnel."

A recent development in starfleet technology had made it possible to transport someone out of an unshielded location while keeping both ships shields up, this was accomplished by adjusting the transporter beam's frequency to match that of the targets.

"We've got picard, the Ferengi seem to have Riker." Lieutenant Commander Harry Kim reported.

"Lay in a pursuit course. Are we in firing range?"

"Not yet at least ten more minutes. Luck for us that old Ferengi beater is slower than we are, and not as well armed." Said Harry.

Picard had came to the bridge.

"Communications open hailing frequency." Picard said

"Belay that" Venicius said

"What? They have my first officer and I have to negotiate his return. To do that I must know what they want." Picard complained

"Wrong. I can get him back much faster and better. Like the famous Montgomery Scott once said, The best diplomat I know is a fully activated phaser bank."

"Oh get real, we don't live in that barbaric era anymore."

"Oh? This is a new century and they most certainly live like barbarians, so shut up Locutus."

Picard turned cherry red. No one had ever called him that before. It brought back a memory of a less than pleasant encounter with the Borg.

"We are in range sir."

"Good have all phaser banks on standby and ready a spread of quantum torpedoes. Target the engines and fire one torpedo at a time."

"With pleasure."

The Flying Dutchman was more than a match for the outdated Ferengi vessels phasers and photon torpedoes.

"Sir the Ferengi vessel's engines are out."

"Good find their life support centers. Target one at a time with phasers only. Fire at the first center.

"Firing."

"Okay now we talk, business."

"Hailing frequency open captain."

"Ferengi animal. Return Picard's officer if you want to live."

"This not proper Federation procedure, you're risking a court martial." The Ferengi claimed.

"Bosh, You won't be able to complain and I'm taking him anyway and you. Transporter room beam Riker and the bridge crew out." Venicius said.

Venicius was pleased at the easy victory and having made Baldy look stupid, which he was.

"Set a course to Rigel 12, warp 8, but before you do destroy their navigational subsystem and beam out their latinum, I want the Grand Nagus to be pissed off at that twit's crew."

After making dogmeat of the Ferengi ship the Flying Dutchman was back on course and on time.

Chapter 2

"We are now orbiting Rigel 12 Captain." Harry reported

"Good now let's find out what this is all about. Hail the planet" Said Venicius

"Ah Captain Venicius I assume, I take you have the personnel onboard."

"Yes we do. I assume you want us to beam down, but first I was wondering if you could fill me in on what's being planned."

"As soon as you transport down everything will be explained. I am transmitting beam down coordinates."

"Affirmative we will be beaming down in ten minutes stand by."

"Harry have Picard and Riker meet me in the transporter room."

The laboratory on Rigel 12 was impressively large and well equipped. At the beam down point a starfleet admiral and two scientists were waiting.

"Captain Venicius, Picard, Riker, I'm Admiral James Howe. This is Senior researcher Philip and technician Bryce. Bryce , Philip venicius, picard and Riker.

Perhaps I should inform you what this lab has been working on. We believe we have a system that will allow a starship to make a sustained trans-warp velocity."

"What have we got to do with it?" Venicius asked.

"You've been appointed to test the prototype drive system. If it works as simulated, it may one day replace conventional systems. A soon as the Galileo arrives, 7 of 9 will be joining you to test the system. In the meantime our technicians will begin installing the prototype onboard the Flying Dutchman." Said Admiral Howe

"Alright, We'll be ready to beam aboard the equipment whenever it's ready."

"Good. When it's installed your objectives will be to first attempt a jump of only a few minutes to test it to find out if it actually works. If it does then it will be necessary to make a longer jump of maybe an hour or more."

"Well I think that can be managed. If you won't be needing me I'll be attending to some business onboard."

"Venicius to Dutchman, Beam me up."

Back on board he walked to the intercom.

"Security, meet me in the brig."

Venicius stopped by his quarters to grab some equipment. He always had a way with prisoners and a way of getting away with violating Starfleet regulations regarding interrogating criminals.

"Right you two wait outside, Jarris, I'll need your help."

Venicius and Jarris always made sure that there was something going on to prevent anyone from finding out about their interrogation methods. Jarris programed a holodeck program that looked like the brig, programed in duplicate prisoners and a routine regulation interrogation questionnaire. The monitoring devices would be temporarily rerouted and no one would ever be able to tell the difference. Venicius also maintained a strict holodeck schedule. His interrogations always took place when the holodeck was off limits.

The interrogation begun with some routine questions.

"Alright Ferengi animal, I want to know why you made that lame attempt to capture Riker." Venicius demanded.

"Sorry, not telling."

"Oh? I'll soon change your mind. You know by not telling me your only endangering you life."

"Don't threaten me, your Federation court martials people for that."

"Only if they know. Now why did you attempted to capture our personnel, what's the profit?"

"Sorry again, good customers are as rare as latinum."

"Which you have not, but you can't profit when you dead."

"You think I'll believe that from a Starfleet officer?"

"Maybe you'll believe this." Venicius said as he delivered a knife hand to the Ferengi's ear.

"Ouch!!OHHHHHHH! I am going to report you to the Federation!"

"Really? Dead men tell no tales," Venicius responded.

"The agonizer sir?" Asked Jariss.

"Yes. The agonizer."

Jariss handed Venicius a small handheld device. Venicius pushed it to the Ferengi's ear.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!! NO!!!! Stop!!!" The Ferengi screamed.

"Now talk dammit."

"He offered so much, I had to do it."

"Who?" Jariss asked

The Ferengi hesitated for a moment but spat it out as soon as he saw the agonizer moving for his ear again.

"A Klingon, his name is Lurok of Shamar."

"Why did he want this done?"

"I don't know. He didn't say."

"Hmm well that's to bad, anyhow I'll leave you people here." Venicius said

"Jarris hit the deck." Hit the deck was the code signal for the monitor system control. He turned it back to normal, while the camera was in a posistion where It revealed nothing.

Venicius cleverly left a phaser in the cell. The Ferengi attempted to grab it which resulted in his taking a hard elbow to his face, a kick in the ribs and a spin kick to the head. Another Ferengi attempted to grab the phaser, but was knocked out cold by Jariss.

The security guards outside came running in but tripped on Jarris. As they clambered to their feet, a third Ferengi had received the same fate as the first two.

The last one began running but received two phasers in the back, one was set on kill.

"Hmm, this was set on base cycle only, not to kill."

One of the two security guards who had come in said "One of them must of reset it in the fight."

"Bridge to Captain, the equipment is installed and 7 of 9 is ready to beam up."

"Right Pike, bring her aboard and get set up I'll be in the engine room."

Venicus trekked to engineering. The engine room now had some equipment set up in it. He saw what must have been the new trans-warp drive tied in with warp power.

"You're 7 of 9?"

"Yes I assume you are Captain Venicius. The trans-warp adapter is ready for testing. It will be necessary to maintain a speed of approximately warp 9.7 for a brief period of time before we can safely engage the adapter."

"Alright how soon do you want to begin?"

"As soon as you are ready will be a good time for me."

"Excellent I'll be on the bridge have her ready"

Venicius had heard trans-warp would be almost 20 times faster than the maximum speed of a conventional warp system. This would be a great advantage for the Federation.

"Engineering, are we ready?" Venicius asked

"Researcher Philip here, begin a slow acceleration, give it about four minutes before reaching warp 9.7. We'll let you know when we're ready to activate the adapter."

"Right, helm warp power!"

"Aye sir."

The ships warp engines engaged as usual. It was a slower acceleration than usual but nothing unique. After a few minutes the ship was reaching normal high cruise speed.

"Warp 8."

"Warp 9" a minute later

"Warp 9.3"

"9.5"

"Bridge we are ready to engage."

"DO it!"

The view screen began to show a greenish conduit slowly forming around the ship.

"Engineering how's the equipment."

"Well she's running a tolerance level. We'll want to make some adjustments to it when we stop, but nothing to worry about. Trans-warp conduit is just riding safety tolerances." Philip reported.

"Safety tolerance?"

"Well, the conduit has signs of imbalanced stresses which if they get much higher could collapse the conduit and send of out of control."

"Understood. Prepare to disengage."

"Roger, disengaging in ten seconds. 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, disengaged.

"The trans-warp conduit began to dissipate and normal space was again visible."

"Excellent, engineering how long do you think it will be before you readjust the adapter?"

"Oh, give us at least 8 hours."

"I'll be in my quarters. Riker and Picard to the briefing room."

Later in the briefing room Venicius was waiting for Riker and Picard to arrive. They soon did.

"Ok as you know the Ferengi tried to capture both of you. Before the accident in the brig he revealed he was hired by a Klingon named Lurok of Shamar. I suggest that we us the opportunity the trans-warp test will give us to investigate this."

"I agree, We could be there in five hours from here instead of four days." Riker said.

"Hmm I hope this is going to get personal but it is our duty to investigate such incidents and I see no reason not to take the opportunity as long as it doesn't jeopardize our mission." Said Picard

"Good, it won't. Relations with the Klingons have been reasonably sound and we'll be just another ship passing through. And with our trans-warp, chasing down Lurok won't be quite so much a matter of time as much as it will be investigation skill. If you two don't have any further objections that's all I want to say. I'll have someone see if the can find out anything about Lurok"

Venicius was in his quarters when the report came. Lurok was rich Klingon merchant. With transwarp power it would take 13 hours to make it, assuming the old estimations of transwarp speeds were correct. Lurok had very little record as a trouble maker.

Chapter 3

"7 of 9 are we ready for transwarp initiation?" Venicius asked from the bridge.

"Yes you may begin acceleration procedure."

"Helm, set a course for the klingon border, engage warp speed."

"Venicius how long do think it will take us to reach the klingon border?" Asked picard.

"My estimate was 13 hours, but I'm no specialist with transwarp drives. Engineering, how long till we reach the Klingon border?" Venicius asked

"If we are able to maintain transwarp, it will take approximately seven hours." 7 of 9 responded.

"Seven hours? I was guessing 12."

"What you do not realize is that transwarp velocities are not entirely dependent on a straight distance, twenty times is the usually minimum increase in speed, but speeds of 80 or even several hundred or more are not unheard of."

"Gad, You'll have to explain this to me sometime."

"This will be a great day for the Federation" said Picard

_Does he ever go away? Venicius thought_

"Engaging transwarp. Transwarp stresses well withing tolerances" Reported Harry.

Venicius left the bridge to Harry. On his way to his quarters he ran into Jariss and Jeremy.

"Sir what are we planning to do once we reach the Klingon suspect?" Pike asked.

"We will apprehend him and arrest him. You know I can't help wondering why Baldy and his first officer were asked to come along. They have no use here." Venicius mentioned.

"Maybe your political adversaries in command want someone to see that you don't take advantage of the situation" Suggested Jarris.

"Oh don't worry, I won't I'll only be doing my duty. Jarris come with me."

In Venicius' quarters he broke out some gin.

"Now, Everything is going according to plan. An attempt has been made, and we are following it up. We will be forced to kill the criminal, but there will be a witness, Picard. This is going to be a deception on more than one front and it will require some planning. Are you familiar with transporter interception?"

"Vaguely, it's where you're beaming down and someone intercepts your transport and sends you someplace else."

"Yes. Lurok will be doing this. He has a holodeck setup ready. He will be beaming from a ship to the planet surface. We will intercept his transport and beam him and the away team to the holodeck. There they will intercept a holodeck version of Lurok and they will assume mission complete. Before he dies he is programed to reveal a plot against the Federation. Essentially a terrorist attempt on Starfleet."

"How do we cover this up?"

"Easy. Lurok has acquired some weapon emplacements and they will be placed around his holodeck setup. The holodeck is invisible on sensors but the weapons won't be. As soon as the hologram delivers the message they will arm. Then we beam the away team up and fire a barrage of weapons at the site. No evidence will remain."

"Right, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

"Good night."

On the bridge Harry was on the end of his shift. Jeremy Pike would soon be up to relieve him of command.

"Engineering to bridge, researcher Philip here, we are going to have to slow to warp speeds, the adapter is taking some internal strain."

"Right at the appropriate time disengage."

A few minutes later the transwarp drive was turned of and the Flying Dutchman slowed to conventional warp speeds.

"Bridge, It's going to be awhile before these stresses dissipate, I would estimate three or four hours."

Philip doubted this would be a problem, they had anticipated the possibility of a limited duty cycle. How limited would be the next issue.

Chapter 4

A Federation ship in Klingon space was nothing unusual anymore. Aside from racial differences, Terrans and Klingons got along most of the time. Venicius knew his plan was perfect. Once the deed was done it was a small matter of playing hero and influencing a gullible public. His whole plan revolved around a plot that was a fabrication. There were no terrorists, only him. Cardasia would claim to know nothing about it. They couldn't trip themselves up since they didn't actually have anything to do with it. There were only three links that could be a threat. He, Jarris and Lurok were capable of covering for themselves. If they didn't Venicius would cover them six feet deep.

Four hours had passed at warp speeds and the transwarp drive was re-engaged and an hour later the arrived at their destination.

"Riker and Picard please report to the bridge." Venicius ordered. Now it was show time.

"Have we found what we're looking for?" Picard asked.

"Well that's what we need to find out. We have the location of his dwelling we're planning to investigate."

"Sir I'm reading what might be weapon emplacements."

"Right let me know if they activate. I'm readying an away team to go down there. Either of you two want to go along?" Venicius asked.

"I think we can spare the time to assist." Picard answered.

"Right, a security detail will accompany you. If those weapons go active we're beaming you out."

"Understood."

The away team was transported down to the planet. It was hot and rocky, Riker could see surface defense guns.

"You'll never get me!"

A disrupted blast hit right near Riker and he jumped for cover. Two security guards flanked around to try to get behind Lurok. Lurok was clever, He was like tracking a panther.

"Were is he?" Riker asked

"I'm getting a Klingon reading in front of us, Let's try to move in." Picard answered.

"You'll never stop us, we're going to get the Federation very soon and make them pay." Lurok taunted.

They moved towards the voice, but it soon came from another location.

"You got again once but not all of your Federation is as lucky, we're gonna kill some Federation animals."

Several more shots were heard, some disrupters and at least on phaser shot. It was highly likely one of the security guards had been killed.

"Venicius to away team, I'm reading weapons activating, Prepare for emergency beam-out"

A moment later they were back in the transporter room, there was a dead security guard with them.

A few minutes later the two were back on the bridge.

"All sensors read weapon emplacements destroyed. Not much would have survived that bombardment." said an officer.

"Yes, that is true. Well set a course back, I'm going to be the gymnasium." Venicius said.

The gym was mostly empty except for a few, Riker was there along with some other. He was bragging as expected.

Venicius had no interest in bragging. He'd bragged all he needed to a long time ago. He had practice to do and that was all that mattered. Roy and Harmon were down in the gym as well. They were some of the big security guys. They probably weighed 250lbs each and it was all muscle. Venicius weighed 157. Venicius had been exercising for an hour when they began. Venicius had an idea of how to shut Riker's mouth.

"Hey Roy, Harmon, come here a minute!" Venicius said

"Yeah sir, what's up?"

"How do you boys care for a bit of manly practice?"

"AW right, who's first?" They both knew what manly practice was, beating someone up!"

"Well, I'll go first you two attack me." They looked at each other somewhat surprised at the offer but they went in. They came in from both sides, Venicius caught an arm and threw Roy over his hip and onto the ground. Harmon had already got in position for a for a rear choke hold, but Venicius reacted faster than Harmon could apply the hold and threw him to the mat.

Roy was already going for a tackle, but Venicius cartwheeled over him to knock down Harmon for a second time. Roy came back and attempted a leg sweep but Venicius avoided the sweep and locked Roy into an arm bar. Roy tapped out.

Harmon tried a side kick but found himself flying to the ground again. Venicius soon had him tapped out.

"Oh I could probably do that" Riker bragged.

"Really? how would you like to prove that you horny old bugger."

"That does it I'm gonna take you out, tyrant."

Riker did better than Roy or Harmon could of alone, he managed to get out of a few holds and avoid a few punches. However he was double fooled when he tried to get Venicius into an arm bar from a double front grab. A foot came up from no where and into Riker's chin. Venicius reversed the beginning phase of the joint lock into wrist lock of his own.

"OWW, okay you win." Riker whinned.

"Of course, remember this, anyone who assumes himself invincible is not. Rather the one who chooses who to destroy carefully is the only one who is invincible." Venicius said.

Chapter 5

"... Yes we're doing well, going like clockwork. Soon we'll be finished with step 1."

"Good once that's done meet with me to talk about step 2."

"Yes, oh someone is at the door, goodbye." Venicius said as he switched of the comm.

"Yes Jariss, what is it?"

"We've received a Priority 2 signal, they want us to report to Starbase 12 immediately. I think they want you to report personally." Jariss said.

"Good that will do nicely. Inform them we are on our way, best speed Jariss."

A day later they arrived at Starbase 12. It was an older station, but still in good shape.

"Ready captain?"

"I'm as ready as I'll ever be, if I play my cards right I might gain some opposition right here. No doubt they want to know why I did what I did. Energize" Venicius said.

Venicius was met by Admiral Dowes, Admiral Wilson and Commodore Lench.

"You've had an interesting week captain. I know you had reasons but you were supposed to test the prototype, not go chasing down glory." Admiral Dowes said.

"Of course. But I did have an unusual situation after all we can't let ourselves be prey to anyone who wants a snack."

"That's not the point. You violated normal procedure you should of called starfleet." Admiral wilson complained.

"First this wasn't a normal situation. Second I wasn't going to wait a week for starfleet to act. Riker was part of my orders."

"Stop making excuses. You gained nothing." Said Dowes

"I know Riker's nothing, but there's more to this than meets the eye. That Klingon wanted something." Venicius said

"He wanted to attack the federation. He implied threats of terrorism." Picard interupted.

"Captain Picard, I don't recall asking you down here." Said admiral Dowes.

"I know but this situation is not a joking matter."

"You heard Locu...Picard That klingon bastard is part of a Terrorist group. I think I was well withing my duty to act on the situation."

"Good grief, terrorism? Venicius you'll do anything for a promotion. I think the Federation can handle terrorists. Said Admiral Dowes.

"Admiral Dowes do you expect the Federation to defend itself against murderers if you won't let Starfleet officers do their jobs? Is that you job to leave the Federation open to attack!?" Shouted Venicius pointing, fingers.

"You know Venicius has a point, It is his duty to protect the Federation." Said Commodore Lench.

"Now you agree with him?"

"Dowes is it just me or are you against anyone who believes in a strong, safe Federation?" Venicius pushed.

An uncomfortable pause took place. Then Admiral Dowes made judgement.

"Venicius you are ordered to return the transwarp prototype the lab. After that you're restricted to spacedock until further notice." Admiral Dowes said.

"Yes I'll do that."

Chapter 6

"Hah, That admiral Dowes is so stupid. I maneuvered him into looking like the real bad guy in five minutes. I have all his remarks on this tape recorder. Now I address the media."

Two days later Venicius was on federation-wide broadcast.

"...Countrymen, Have we forgotten the days when we had to protect ourselves? Have we lost our will for survival? No, but some people have. Other nations laugh at the weak Federation. There are those that say our benevolence is our greatest strength, but some people have made it into our greatest weakness.

Admiral Dowes believes Starfleet Captains shouldn't be allowed to Do their duty when it interferes with normal procedure. Picard and myself stumbled across a terrorist plot to kill Federation citizens. Admiral Dowes doesn't even listen to his own captains! Listen to this!" Venicius droned

He played back the key points of the tape recording. After that he went on with his speech.

"Are we going to let people like that run us? He'll let people run over us unless we do something about it! And we will do something about it!"

The next day the news was commenting on the speech. There were some mixed feeling in the press. The public was appalled at how starfleet was being run.

"Jariss this is excellent. Look at my reviews. Won't be long before I finish my plan. Then Dowes will be scum on my boot." Said Venicius.

"In your case in be blood and guts on the bottom of your boot." Jarris replied.

"Yes now we just have to wait for Dowes to make another noteworthy mistake and I'll be the new head of starfleet."

"Especially if we help him make a mistake."

Several weeks later Jarris had managed to help him make more that just a mistake.

"Well here's the pictures of Admiral Dowes cheating with that cheap Bajoran whore. There censored and ready for your next public debut." Said Jariss.

"Good send them and this article into 'Federation Today' and send this article to 'Dirt Magazine'." Said venicius

"Right away boss."

Seven of nine was checking the transwarp prototype before sending it to H&H Incorporated. The device was perfectly reliable for use on federation vessels. She figured one month would pass before the first starfleet vessels were refitted with transwarp capability.

"Venicius Dowes has managed to bring in that Bajoran prostitute for questioning. He was pretty mad when he went down to get his copy of Federation Today."

"He found her eh? That's no good she'll talk."

"No she won't I poisoned her twenty minutes ago."

"Oh good that loophole has been closed.

"Also there's a zillion reporters outside." Said Jarris

"Good."

"That Admiral Dowes is putting interests of Bajoran terrorists above those of federation citizens. They hired that whore to get something out of Dowes, but they won't get it! Whoever is behind this terror cell knew she could identify them so they had her killed before we could get the information out of her. Admiral Dowes is no longer qualified to run starfleet." Said venicius

"Captain Venicius do you personally think starfleet has a Bajoran backseat driver using Dowes as their tool?" Asked a reporter

"Frankly yes. If we don't act soon they'll drive us into the ditch."

"Venicius do you agree with some starfleet captains that starfleet no longer should be required to follow the non interference directive?"

"I agree that starfleet needs to take a stronger stand against threats to our federation. I have nothing more to say but I probably will soon. Good day."

Chapter 7

"Admiral Dowes you've got a transmission from the president." Sadi Dowes' secretary.

"Mr. President was a pleasant surprise."

"How about you wait to hear what I have to say. Some of us have a very high standing view of starfleet's chief of staff."

"Thank you sir."

"Unfortunately you have no standing. You have bungled up everything. Have you read the papers? Have you read the reports? Not likely in your case frankly Dowes you are finished you're fired! You're demoted to rear admiral The new chief of staff will be appointed in one week until then Admiral Wilson is in charge."

"Hey Venicius you've got a transmission from the president." Said Jariss.

"That stupid over weight nit wit eh? I'll take in here."

"Mr. President I'm honored."

"That is exactly why I have called. Normally I don't like people who go around feeding the rats in the press but this is an exception. I have relieved admiral Dowes of his position and I would like to offer you the job of chief of staff."

"Me? I don't know I never really wanted anything besides command. I might not like it however my conscience compels me to accept. How soon must I report?"

"You have six days before you're officially Chief of Staff, however the sooner you can be at starbase 12 the better Admiral Wilson is temporarily in command."

"Well then Mr. President I shall do my best to arrive within a reasonable amount of time. Captain Venicius out." Said Venicius.

Venicius smiled at himself. This was all too easy. With this new position getting things done his way would be a lot easier.

"Good news sir?" Asked Jariss.

"Oh yes, that stupid President has just made me chief of staff. We have to be at starbase 12 in six days."

"Do you want us to start heading that way now? I will take us two days to get there."

"Definitely. I want to be there a little early. I will no doubt take a lot of time to plug all the loopholes left by Dowes."

"Ah sir I'll just inform the bridge to set a course back to starbase 12."

After two days at warp speed the Flying Dutchman had arrived at starbase 12 and Venicius had beamed onboard.

"Venicius We weren't expecting you." Said admiral Wilson.

"Too bad I'm here. I would like to see the starfleet resource allocation charts. Also show me where I'm too be working." Said Venicius

"Certainly I'll show you." Wilson replied with contempt.

He was led to a roomy office There were the usual fish, plants and cheap french paintings, none of which were original.

"Well I'll look into redecorating while you find those charts." Venicius said.

The first things to go were the paintings. He looked at the fish bowl. Why did everyone have some of those? They were an essentially worthless item, however it wouldn't take long to change the nature of the fish tank.

"Here are the charts. Anything else?"

"Nope. This all I need."

The resource allocation charts were anything but practical. Foreign aid was clear up at 40. In the old days 15 was typical if not higher than standard. Scientific Exploration was ranking 10. Dominion War Friendship Reconstruction Effort 35. Equipment maintenance 5. Personnel compensation 10.

"Good god! What kind of idiot wrote this?! Locutus couldn't have done anything this dumb. I don't even know if Sisko could have bungled this much. The split second I'm in charge I will fix this loophole." Said venicius

Venicius grabbed a piece of real paper and Quill and begun writing up a tentative new resource allocation sheet.

Foreign aid 5. Scientific exploration 10. no post dominion war funding at all. Equipment maintenance 10. New technology research 20. 15 personnel compensation. Department of Defense development 30. Section 31 counter intelligence 10.

Chapter 8

"Alright now this is my new resource allocation plan, enact it today. And if anyone complains your getting reassigned. Also, Jariss your incharge of section 31. 7 of 9 your laboratory is now funded under new technology research instead of personnel compensation and donations. I hope that helps in your experiments.

Also I want somebody in charge of the new defense development unit. Let me know when you find some suitable people, Commodore Lench."

"Yes sir I'll get right on it." Replied Lench.

With funding issues resolved venicius now looked into the current situation. At present there was no immediate military threat. There was however a rise in pirate activity and illegal narcotics smuggling. In theory it wouldn't be to hard to resolve the issues with the small time pirates. Putting armaments on freighters would solve that problem. Unfortunately it was illegal under federation law for a freighter to be armed. The alternative was escorts and convoys. The major shipping routes could be convoyed to reduce the risk of a small time pirate raid. The big timers who owned a couple of ships apiece would be the only substantial threat to any ship in a convoy. The only flaw in that plan was getting enough shipping companies to agree to the delays of convoying.

"Venicius I have found some possible candidates for the job of Defense development. I've found four people who might be suitable, Commander Tuvok, Lt Commander Monroe, and Captain Worph and Lieutenant Korban." Said Lench

"I see, send them all an offer for the position, but make sure they know I only want them if they really like the idea of the position." Venicius ordered.

Another issue that had been neglected lately was the ground forces of the federation. During the dominion war they were less than ideally equipped, also they were understaffed. That would be a job for the defense department.

"Sir we have an answer from the applicants already, Lieutenant Korban is on the line."

"Good put him through."

"Chief of staff it is a great honor to be offered such a posistion. I would be most pleased to take on the duty of defense of the federation."

"Good, I've already gone over your qualifications, I'll let you know within 48 hours if you are to report."

"Thank you, Korban out."

By 48 hours no one had called back. That was somewhat rude. However it certainly made the job of choosing the new Defense Development chief a little easier. The only drawback would be putting up with a Klingon, but they were easy to replace.

After the 48 hours were up Korban was called and a week later he arrived. I was a short interview.

"Well Korban You job is simple, You come up with new field weapons and starships and build them. Here's your resource sheet make good use of it. As long as you stay within budget you can do whatever you want." Said Venicius.

"Glorius day! I shall assemble a team and I'll have some new ideas withing the next month." Said Korban.

Korban already had some ideas. By the end of the weak he had a team of ten. Two security specialists, four engineers, two former starship captains, and firearm specialist and martial arts expert.

Two weeks later Korban had come up with a briefing on some new equipment.

"Sir we have completed some new designs for highly recommended equipment. We have revived the design of the old portable photon morter with quantam morters and the improvement of a built in sensor aided targeting system.

Second we have decided to replace the standard compression rifle with the mark 1A Compression repeater rifle. It provides a 50 greater firing rate while retaining 85 of the normal firepower of a compression rifle.

We have plans completed for a high-compression anti-vehicle gun. Intended to be stationary, this gun is slower firing but does a considerable amount of damage to a target.

Also Plans are underway for specialized anti-personnel turrets I estimate they will be completed within two months.

Oh and there are now light photon grenades available.

On another point, the federation's ground forces will be divided into planetary militias and the federation ground force. The Federation ground force will act as an army and as marines. With your permission sir I would like to begin a recruiting campaign." Said Korban.

"Yes, begin recruiting. So far I like what you have in mind. Keep up the work."

Chapter 9

Venicius was in his office trying to calm the Federation President. The President was in a really bad mood and wanted to be a pain in the rear.

"You know what you've done? Cutting the reconstruction funds for the Dominion is going to lead to trouble. They might just start another war." Said the President.

"Good then we can wipe them off the map."

Then you immediately turning starfleet into some sort of full time bureau of national defense with all you weapons projects."

"It's supposed to be about defense, as I recall that's why you put my here are you going back on yourself? That wouldn't look to good on election day."

"N..no I suppose it wouldn't. We won't talk of this again." Said the president as he cut the transmission.

Venicius contemplated his next move. He was in a bit of a spot. He had enough authority to prepare starfleet for the next phase but the posistion of Chief of Staff made him someone people paid a lot of attention to. The issue was whether or not to take a radical move to the next step. Militarizing the Federation would take one of two things, complete support in the public or complete support in the military. At present he had only part of both. Section 31 was fully on his side but that was only part of what he needed.

Venicius felt the problem would resolve itself if he just sat tight and waited for people to put a little more trust into what he was doing in starfleet. If he kept everything new he did low key, and continued with the pretense of strengthening the federation time would solve the rest.

"7 of 9 to venicius we have a new development."

"Yes what have you come up with?"

"I believe a new substance we have developed could potentially render a standard EPS grid obsolete."

"Really? Do tell."

"It's a semi liquid superconductor capable of carrying extreme amounts of power through a very small area, And no power is lost in transit as heat either."

"Excellent, I'll inform the defense department of this improvement."

"That will not be necessary I already have and they plan to use it in new ship designs along with the transwarp prototypes."

"Thank you for informing me."

Venicius made up his mind as to what his next move would be. As of late there had been some minor empathy between the federation and Bajoran religious leaders. Venicius had an idea.

"Hello Jariss, I have the rest of the plan ready. In four months we will be running this show, Now I want you to increase the unimportant differences between the Bajoran religious people and the federation, Once that's steaming arrange for the federation council to be suicide bombed, get everyone then I'll make my move." Said Venicius.

"Talley-Ho, It'll be a pleasure"

Several weeks later in Paris The president was talking with the secretary of national security. It was about Venicius.

"I don't know Steve, something about Venicius gives me the shivers. I don't trust him." Said the President.

"Well I've had all his communications bugged, I haven't heard anything."

"Yeah well he's clever, I don't think he would use the usual communications system, If he did it would be in code." Said the president

"Oh I don't personally think Venicius is stupid enough to try anything."

"Oh maybe not, look at all this rude mail from Bajoran priests, I don't mind but I wish the mail would go someplace else."

"I don't suppose you could just burn the letters and tell the Bajorans where to get off."

"Oh don't be silly I don't believe in that kind of rude behavior." Said the president.

Chapter 10

"Okay men once the ship crashes we move in, Remember we want this to look like a Bajoran terrorist act. You all have your costumes and you'll be required to show your disintegration pack. Those disintegration packs will vaporize you if you are killed, but do not let yourselves be captured. If absolutely necessary shoot someone yourself on maximum phaser power to prevent them from being captured. We only want to get the council members, after the explosion takes out the automated defenses we move in take out any stragglers and drop these timed thaleron charges. Okay let's get into position." Said Jariss.

The explosion was felt all over Paris. Anyone outside saw the mushroom cloud of dust. Jariss' men took ten minutes to reach the rubble. Only two people were shot, the rest were finished off with the thaleron radiation.

As soon as it was over Jariss team met back in a basement and place a timed phase charge on their costumes to eliminate that evidence. Half an hour later they had all dispersed.

Venicius was in San-Francisco at starfleet headquarters When it happened. He wasted no time in addressing the public. His speach was blunt and to the point.

"Whoever is behind this will surely pay. Although we can't be absolutely sure it is assumed that whoever did this was with the bajoran religious leaders. In the abscence of a federation council I shall have to make executive decisions for the federation until amendments can be made."

Venicius then went directly to Korban to discuss taking control of Bajor.

"Well is you new ground force ready for action?"

"I don't know for sure if we have enough recruits. We only have three thousand at the moment, but in another six months we might have another three thousand. On the other hand the recent turn of events might accelerate that."

"I see, well then while your readying the new ground force I'll send in ships to cut them bajoran pigs off from outside aid."

"But then again Bajorans can't fight so Maybe it would be a good training opportunity for our troops.

"Right I'll lead the ships myself."

"Oh that reminds me, We've come up with two new ship designs, the Titan battlecruiser and the Jackal destroyer. The Titan battlecruiser is 900meters long and is ideal for both heavy siege and battle situations. The Jackal destroyer is 225m and makes for excellent support vessel. Both ships have reduced amenities and extra barrack area so they can both be used to transport troops, The Jackal also designed to land to allow troop transport when transporters are down. The titan can land but it's size make it difficult." Said Korban

"Oh good. I've got to get the fleet ready we'll talk more about this later, I'll call you." Said Venicius

Venicius quickly looked over the Starship registry. He looked for all ships that had been refitted with transwarp capability first. Transwarp prototypes had only been in production 19 months and only a few ships were outfitted with them. There were five ships, three intrepid classes, one sovereign and his own. Venicius ordered them and three other federation vessels that were within range to rendevous outside of Bajor.

Venicius' vessel had been reequipped with transwarp as soon as he had been promoted. In less than an hour he was on route. It took two days to get there. With the small task force waiting outside Bajoran space waiting for his signal to move in, Venicius contacted their leaders.

"Bajoran homeworld, this is venicius commanding the federation task force. We are here to investigate the action against the federation. You will cooperate with us." Said Venicius.

"There has been no reason for you to mass a force against us, if you had come here to investigate a crime you wouldn't need a task force. Also your Federation should have contacted us before your arrival to arrange the investigation, therefore you have no right to be here. We will not cooperate until we have spoken with the federation personally."

"Nice try, but your terrorists killed them all. I am the federation leader as far as you are concerned. Any attempt to further delay our investigation will not be listened to, any attempts to resist us will be punished. Venicius out."

"All ships move in, yellow alert." said Venicius.

All eight ships proceeded to their destination, there was one brief tangle with the border patrol, but they were crippled in an instant and the fleet was soon orbiting Bajor.

"Planet Bajor surrender now or be forced under federation control." Said Venicius.

"Threaten us all you want commander, we won't give in."

"Very well, fleet target and begin a bombardment of every major military stronghold." ordered Venicius.

There weren't many but enough to take several minutes to find and destroy. Now Venicius had them were he wanted them.

"Planet of Bajor, you are now Subject to the Federation of Planets, your local laws and authorities will remain until further notice, but all your actions are subject to Federation rule." Said Venicius.

"Harry, inform Korban he is to send an operation to take total control of Deep space 9, he can have whatever equipment or personnel he wants." Ordered Venicius.

After leaving one of the Sovereigns in charge of the fleet, the Flying Dutchman raced back to starbase to discuss plans. Over the next few months a Provisional Federation Senate was established with one representative per planet. However, Venicius only allowed it partial control and everything was subject to his approval. In simpler language the so called senate was a roose to keep the Federations' members from squawking.

Part II The New Era

Venicius had waited three full years before Jariss arranged for him to be the commander in chief of the federation. It had been a two years since he subjugated Bajor.

"Well sir, The Jackal destroyer is now in production, and I believe we can have the prototype finished in a year. We are still finalizing the designs for the Titan battleship. It will probably take another six months. As for building it I would estimate maybe four to five years. We have a small, well rounded, straight forward army of about 200,000 troops, it's not much but it is a start." Reported Korban.

"Hmm, put fleet production on priority, as for the army I want more posters, and I want some recruiting propaganda in the common media and in the high schools and colleges. I want that army a thousand times bigger.." Said Venicius.

"Well boss, we have strict gun laws, total cooperation with the fleet since we've eliminated 90 of the conservative and liberals." Said Jariss.

"Good, Send ground forces to Bajor and take control of their legal system and porcure some slave labor to work on building our ships. Then take over Cardassia and do the same. I think now I can get to the important work." Scoffed Venicius.

"Ah yes, it's so much better now. Everyone has jobs, there's no internal unrest, and nobody goes around whining at us anymore." Said Jarris.

"Yes, Jariss stay here I want to talk with you personally." said Venicius as people were getting ready to leave.

"Yes what is it?"

"I have one special project, you're the only one I can trust to maintain the necessary secrecy. Genetics, I want the most Genetically superior creatures possible while still being as intelligent as us. Once we have that then we can begin the rest of the operation. The biological will meet with technological, if you take my meaning. They must be able to become the future of the Federation. They will be the master race then."

"What do you want to call this project."

"Oh lets call this project Morsai. When there finished they must be as fast and agile as a cheetah, as hard to kill as a grizzly and as strong as an android."

"Yes commander."

"Good we won't speak of this until it is done."

"There's just one more thing Venicius. My spies have been uncovering information regarding some sort of alliance between the Dominion and the Kayzon." Said Jariss.

"Well then I suggest we hurry and build that new battle fleet. If they want war that's what they'll get."

Chapter 11

Jariss had begun procuring cheap labor to build ships. It wasn't hard to do, Bajorans were always lame fighters. Most of them were channeled into mining mineral resources on asteroids and other in hospitable environments. Whenever more were needed the armed forces on Bajor would round up several thousand bajorans to be sent to processing camps and then to the mining camps.

Korban had signed production of the prototype titan. It would take time to complete, too much time. At best it would be four years before completion. The army was expanding rapidly now, and it was fairly well equipped. As far as he was concerned, the federation now had a small battle ready ground force.

Venicius was looking at the list of spacecraft from private manufactures. Most of them were unsuitable for his purposes. They were either too small or were unsuited for anything beyond pleasure cruising. There were some designs in line for manufacture by a fairly new company called H&H manufacturing. They were going to be workhorses for everything from merchant use to cargo carrying to prospecting.

Venicius did have a meeting lined up with the Romulan Praetor. The goal of the meeting was to try and open trade routes across the neutral zone. That was still four months away but it was major priority on Venicius' list.

Building a spacefleet was not going to be easy. Smaller ship designs like the Jackal destroyer wouldn't be much of a problem. One of those could easily be built by any small shipyard in a year or two years at the outside. One was already being made for a trail period. As for the fleet that starfleet already had it was going to be a problem to refit them all. However Venicius had an alternative. If the new spacefleet was ready in time, all the old warp drive ships could be put around deep space 9 to guard the only access the dominion had to the alpha quadrant. With transwarp it would be possible to reach the dominion in a matter of months without using the wormhole giving the federation a huge advantage.

The only real issue was getting a task force to the kayzon and the dominion. Only a handful of ships had transwarp capability. At the moment there wasn't enough to even make a decent patrol let alone a task force. In ten years maybe there would be a suitable task force of new ships. Till then the best designs would have to be set up as warships. Plans were already underway to replace the EPS grids with the new superconductor. Right now modified designs were being produced. The Sovereign, the intrepid and the prometheus class were being redesigned with the new power system and transwarp drives. While the new ships were being built and tested the older designs would be reconfigured to be suited for battle. That meant cutting down on luxuries, but that was just a handful of revisions on the blueprints.

Most of the redesigns had be drawn up and ships were being commissioned. Four sovereign classes were under construction, ten intrepid class and two prometheus types had been put under construction. There were empty yards that Venicius had reserved for building the new designs and then there were dozens of private shipyards that could be commissioned.

Of course there were new shipyards under construction, the cost of raw materials had been going down and if Venicius got his way it would be going down a lot more. Since the takeover of bajor and cardasia there were dozens of privately owned refineries opened and a number of scrap yards.

Chapter 12

After the meeting with the praetor, the Flying Dutchman had taken roundabout method of returning home in order to chart out some new sectors. They had found little except the remaining bits of an unidentified hull that had evidently been caught in an ion storm. They were just about to make the final leg home when Mr. Harry spotted a ship on sensors.

"Sir we have an alien ship approaching at extreme warp speeds. I don't recognize the design, it will be coming along side us in a minute." Said Harry.

"Let's see it. Hmm is an unusual design, yellow alert. What can you make out about it?"

"Well is the same size as the dutchman, it's hull is resisting my sensor sweeps, but I can tell you one thing, it's alien."

"Security to bridge, internal scans have detected something like a cloaking device active on board."

"What do you mean?" Asked Venicius.

"I mean I getting sensor distortion on deck 4 that are consistent with a cloaking field."

"Secure that deck with level 10 forcefields, sound red alert. Send Marines to that area, But set weapons to stun force only I want whatever it is alive assuming it's not a bomb."

"Sir I think that ship is trying to beam out whatever's on that deck." Said Harry.

"Create a scattering field around that area in addition to the existing forcefield. Bring main phasers to bear on that ship. Open a hailing frequency, audio only. Alien vessel we know you have something onboard. Power down and prepare to be boarded."

The ship lurched after taking two hits from the alien vessel.

"Sir they just knocked shields down to 80" Said Harry.

"Return fire, All hand prepare for multi-vector attack mode."

"Sir that vessels shields are still at full power, it might not be a good idea to continue attacking."

"Noted engage multi-vector attack, attack pattern epsilon."

The ship rumbled as she separated into three separate vessels. A few minutes later they were pursuing the alien vessel in a triangular formation.

"Fire quantam torpedoes, full spread."

"Firing, Their shields are still holding."

"Well let's see how long he can keep it up. Inform the fleet to concentrate all weapons on their engines."

"Another few hits hit the section of the dutchman Venicius was commanding."

"Sir shield are down to 40, they can't take much more of this. I'm reading another vessel, much bigger than this one, I get similar readings. ETA three minutes."

"Shit, cancel multi-vector attack, begin re-attachment sequence." Ordered Venicius."

The ships reattached into a single hull right as the other alien ship arrived.

"Helm take us out of here, emergency speed."

"Sir the warp drive is not responding, We're losing systems somehow. I'm rerouting power to the shields."

"Keep them up as long as you can." Venicius said, just as he felt himself caught in a transporter beam.

"He found himself in a cell, presumably onboard an alien ship. He felt like he had been drugged. He didn't have his com-badge or the spare com-badge he kept hidden inside his pants, or the palm phaser kept in his hidden uniform pocket. At the moment escape seemed unlikely. Then four guards appeared. The force-field was lowered and Venicius walked out with them. Two of them went to another cell and Venicius siezed the opportunity. He took the pistol away from a guard while doing a scissor kick to the gun hand of the other. Armed with a pistol now, Venicius dashed away. There was a brief exchange of fire as venicius rounded a corner. He jumped into a crawl way and closed the door. Evidently this was a maintenance tunnel similar to a jeffries tube, Maybe this would lead to some vital systems. It didn't. It let out into another hall.

Gaurds were practically waiting for him, Venicius Had only partial difficulty gunning them down. Whatever the alien weapons were they didn't leave much of a victim besides spatter. Just as he started moving again he was surrounded by forcefields. There was a voice.

"Stop resisting now, or you ship will be destroyed."

This time venicius obliged and was escorted to what looked like the aliens equivalent of a bridge.

"We have examined you both of you ships records and it appears this was a misunderstanding of sorts. M'chav is a scientist. He lacks experiance in alien behavior, he had no idea you would take his exploratory efforts as an act of aggression. He will be thoroughly reprimanded by the council. You ship will be allowed to leave, but since you killed some of our crew you will be destroyed."

"Hmm I see, Then allow me to infom my crew, otherwise they won't be willing to leave."

" Certainly, our anti power beam is off and communications opened with your ship. You may speak."

"Venicius to flying dutchman."

"Pike here sir, what's your status?"

"Ah that, So how are things on king to queen's level three"

"Sir?"

"Well by the book Good here seems bad. The situation is good. Prepare to return home."

"Ay, I think I read your smoke signals go on."

"I am to be destroyed but you may return." Venicius said moving next to the alien commander.

"Yes sir we are ready. The transportation highway is set."

"Good you may begin, right about now." Venicius ordered as he took the commander to the ground while using him as a human shield. The alien struggled but to no avail, They were both caught in the transporter beam in a moment.

They were in the transporter room security was waiting.

"Take him to the brig."

Venicius ran to the bridge. He could hear the warp drive being strained to the absolute limit. Normally it took several minutes to reach the transwarp threshold.

"Report."

"Were are at warp 9 the large alien ship is in pursuit an gaining on us. Transwarp in 30 seconds." Said Pike

"That was close, it was a good thing you caught on to my message."

"I was lucky I did, that was an awful risk you took. You could very easily have been killed."

"That's nice, but I think that alien ship is more of a danger."

"Yes I found a reference to a similar ship encountered by Kirk."

"Transwarp engaged." Reported Harry.

"Right, let's get down to the brig and get some answers."

"Alright you, now you are our prisoner and as you know we can be pretty brutal now first who are you people?"

"Our species is called Vincatu, we were once part of what was called the first federation. The first federation and most of its fleet no longer exist. WE encountered your federation nearly two centuries ago when the starship enterprise destroyed a bouy of ours. I must say you ships have gotten trickier. Disabling two ships, on of which was our own and yours took about twenty seconds unlike the first time.

Bear in mind Venicius that while we seldom find any value in becoming involved with foreign matters the Vincatu council won't be happy with your federation for kidnapping."

"Don't worry you'll be sent home once we reach starfleet and after answering some more of our questions." Said Venicius.

Chapter 13

The USS Jackal had been completed and was sent out on it's first shakedown cruise. It had been completely routine and more Jackals were likely to be commissioned later.

"Venicius you may be improving relations with the Romulans but the Klingons are getting less friendly because of it. Also the Dominion is just itching for an excuse to attack us." Said Jarris.

"Good Keep them itching for an excuse and when were ready I'll give them one."

"Did you hear that Syrius fabrication complete their shipyard today?" Asked Jariss.

"Yes I did, It's probably the biggest yard in the alpha quadrant. I know it's the biggest in the Federation. Three 2500 meter bays and one 4000 meter bay. One thing is for sure that's one huge yard. That reminds me, our army needs something specifically made for troop transport. It needs to be tough large and fairly fast."

"Yeah, It wouldn't have to be massive, an altair star passenger liner carries 3000 people onboard and their only about four to five hundred meters." Said Jariss.

"Yes, we need something for transporting thousands at a time instead of hundreds."

"Right, I'll see what Korban has in mind, I guess he's finally getting a decent army. It passed the one million mark today."

"That's all? That means roughly 5000 recruits per planet that's no were near the size it should be. Ancient armies had tens of thousands and they didn't control an entire planet. Inform korban that I want a minimum of 300,000 troops from each planet. 200,000 to protect the planet and 100,000 to go to war."

"You realize what your saying, that means an attacking force of about one and half million troops!?" Asked jariss in amazment.

"Yes I do, and that means a lot of ships, get to work on it I have already been preparing an attack plan. I will be with Korban later today, make sure he know what I want."

Venicius had been going over charts procured by the U.S.S. Voyager on possible sites to establish a federation presence.

"Well korban our target is mo-Kan 3. It's in a strategically advantageous position. There is a Kayzon shipyard there which we can capture four our own uses. The planet is agricultural and is suitable for supplying our men with food."

"Sir do you realize how hard controlling an area that far into the delta quadrant would be? It would take at least 300,000 men to maintain control of the planet assuming we orbitally bombarded every sign of armed forces. As for getting the army of 1,500,000 there I have no idea how to begin. It would take 5000 jackal destroyers to transport that many men."

"Then get to work, put the design of the Jackal into mass production and get those troop ships done."

"Alright, I can have three prototypes ready in six months. I'll have ten shipyards begin building the new Jackal destroyers. At best next year we will have seven transports, 15 destroyers and the USS titan ready I can also look into modifying non military ships. That's the best I can do unless we buy vessels from other empires." Said Korban

"Forget buying foreign crap. Modify were practical, but only for troop ships. Let me know when you have something." Said Venicius.

Part III The beginning of the second dominion war

Venicius spent three more years playing diplomatic with the Dominion. His force was poised for the order to depart. Seven months had been spent planning out the fastest transwarp route. Venicius was now enlisting the help of a retired general.

"General Redger, I want you to lead the ground attack I really do."

"Hey it's not that I don't want to it's just that it can't be done. The shear amount of infantry needed to control a rebellious people like that is immense. If you want it bombed first it would be one thing but to take it intact is another. It would take a hundred thousand to even stand a chance."

"Hundreds of thousands more like."

"Yes but Grand General there is no army like that."

Venicius turned to the viewscreen and flipped a switch. On the screen A greenish line of vehicles transporting troops could be seen to the horizon as well as artillery and mortars.

"That is one and a quarter million men gathering there. That is the initial strike force you will lead. Will you do it?"

"In this case I don't dare consider refusing, I'd love to lead a force of that size" Said General Redger.

"Very well than. You will be Delta force General no. one. You have to be ready to leave within two weeks. The fleet is standing by with Admiral Yarlis."

"Do I dare guess how big your fleet is?"

"300 troops ships 20 cargo ships, 40 Jackal destroyers, 30 intrepid class ships four soveriegns and the Titan. So you can see this isn't a small matter. Our shipyards are able to build a destroyer in only three months now so this is just the beginning."

Venicius doubted the Kayzon would be able to resist such a force. It would take the dominion some time to respond and by then the Federation would already be making a push further.

Venicius was also interested in changing the prefixx USS to ISS since the federation was more imperial in nature now.

Korban was looking at the resource sheet. It was stretched to the max. A new source of income would be necessary to maintain this high rate of production. Refineries were pushed to the limit and it was flat out difficult to keep up with the cost of moving raw materials to and from the refineries, With every shipyard choked with warships, cargo ships were in high demand. Venicius hadn't yet allowed the use of transwarp on civilian craft. Although a wise security precaution it was detrimental to manufacturing. He would have to bring up this problem.

Jariss was just taking the final steps in preparing a new member of the S.S. With the final neural-neutralizer on high, he gave the final command.

"You can't betray the General, you only serve Venicius. If you betray him you die, die die! You hate Bajor, bajorans are the enemy, you everyone outside the federation is inferior." Said Jariss.

Jariss then switched off the machine. It only took a few days to prepare people using the wonderful device, so much more efficient than indoctrination and crude brainwashing. The next order of the day was an interrogation, a bajoran sympathist. They prepared the usual tortures, agonizer, rack, and the whips.

"Okay Tayloss, where are your bajorans? We know you've been smuggling them out, but where to and were from?"

The man said nothing. Jariss wasn't hesitant to punish him severely.

"Give him 10 lashings, and give me the agonizer." Said Jariss.

After the ten lashing the man's back was red and he was whimpering, but he wasn't talking. Jariss then used the agonizer and held it for a full minute.

"Look you, Venicius doesn't put up with Bajoran sympathizers. I have full authorization to torture and kill anyone who doesn't cooperate. Actually I can torture you and kill you even if you talk, but in those circumstances I usually do it faster. However I shall not waste time with you. Guards, take him to the mind sifter. After that's done take him and have his skin peeled off and then display it as a public example." Jariss threatended.

In another sector Venicius was dealing with an uncooperative officer.

"So you disagree with my plan for war ensign? Well I should keep such things to youself."

"I stand for what's right. I don't know how I'll do it but one day I'll see you downfall. Then I'll hunt you down and destroy you." Said the ensign

"Wrong. Gaurds, take him and kill him. In fact have him crucified and put a sign over his head say this is what happens to traitors." Venicius ordered.

Chapter 14

The attack force was dropping out at the target. For the limited defenses in the area the 75 starships force was overkill. The massive ground attack commenced shortly after, one and a quarter million troops were transported onto the planet. The kayzon army though large was totally inadequate for fighting a large force that was aided with starship support. Within several weeks the entire planet was under federation control. The kayzon weren't able to mount much of a counterattack for several months.

The first major attempt the Kayzon made came only a few days after the next shipment of troops arrived. They weren't successful. The smaller 40 ship counterattack was soon smashed and federation control in the system was strengthened.

Federation ships continued to come in from the federation. At first ground units were being shipped out at a furious rate. Then came ships. Destroyer after destroyer was shipped out to the delta quadrant.

By the first year of the war the Federation controlled 4 Kayzon planets. There were only a number of federation vessels destroyed, but a lot of kayzon ships were scrapped for raw materials.

Venicius had other projects to see to. Project Morsai was moving along. The SS scientists had been working on the complex genetics involved. They had changed the chemical in the mind sufficiently to affect their attitude. Strength had been increased by 7 times terran norm. Physically they were almost perfect.

The second part of the project was taking a bit longer. The modifications to the nanoprobes was going slowly and it would be some time before they had what they were looking for.

There was one notable private research facility, space station Hadrian, that had attracted some extensive attention. It was enough to get venicius to meet the facilities personnel personally.

"Good afternoon gentlemen, I'm am grand general Venicius. I have heard you've invented a new type of energy source. Perhaps you should explain." Said Venicius

"Well sir, It's unlike anything ever before. It relies on space physics, primarily subspace and it's polar opposite. Basically these two forces react in a suitable medium and the power produced is collected."

"Sounds powerful."

"Yes, so powerful it is virtually unlimited. Power is limited only by the power rating of the reactor's collection equipment and how much tryllium you want to use

up. In fact if you go by grams, one gram of trillium is capable of putting out 25 times as much as an equivalent amount of antimatter, assuming you keep the burn rate of the tryillium equal to the antimatter."

"Sound pretty down right revolutionary."

"Well there are a few drawbacks, the main one is safety. The burning of the tryllium produces an extremely intense radiation. Also, any energy discharge within a certain proximity to the reaction could cause a flashback resulting in a massive explosion far more powerful than an anti-matter explosion. Although we don't know for sure, a relatively large flashback could wipe out anything within a solar system, at least in theory." Said the scientist.

"Ick, seems a high risk for the extra power. I'll be open to hearing any new developments, but don't go playing with this stuff anymore than you have to."

Venicius left Hadrian station and returned to earth for more important issues. The new long range antimatter torpedo was scheduled for testing. It was capable of maintaining warp 2 and could remain in flight for a maximum of six hours. They were going to test it out on some stationary targets at increasing distances. The device was designated the W1-13A. The W1 was the warp drive type, the 13A was the guidance system.

The tests were successful, though at further ranges the payload grew successively weaker.

A few weeks later Jariss came into Venicius' office with a prisoner.

"Venicius I found this alien spy in our SS cargo bay. I thought since this one was unusual I thought you would want to see it. Arrogant pig."

"Oh? Something new? Spying? We'll soon take care of that. I'll meet you in the laboratory."

A few minutes later Venicius met Jariss in the interogation Lab.

"Well now we'll start easy with the agonizer. Where are you from, what's you species name and why are you here?"

"I ain't telling you weak terrans anything."

"Weak? You're in no position to make that claim." Said venicius as he shoved the agonizer into his crotch."

"Get stuffed!" it said

"Well you don't have much of dick anymore, soon you'll have none. We'll move up to food. Eat some gawk." said venicius as the alien male's mouth was wrenched open and the worms shoved down his throat.

"Shall we give him a haircut?" Asked Jariss.

"Oh yes, his hair does need attending to."

Jariss began ripping out hair until their was very little left.

"So buster I don't suppose your going to start talking, because there's lots more left to do." Stated Venicius.

"The alien still wouldn't talk."

"Jariss put him in the booth for an hour, then spit his tongue, and then take him to genetics for a little bit of improvement."

"You terran klingon wannabes!" It said.

"Oh, jariss, have them add some Klingon DNA, don't dis-honor terran DNA by mixing it with his ."

Several hours later Venicius was in his office waiting for Jariss results. Jariss came in to tell him later that he was done with the booth and the genetics lab.

"His under restraint, We gave him an hour in the booth and genetics altered his DNA structure to resemble Klingon Physical appearances. He'll show the effects in several months I imagine." Said Jariss.

"Good, keep up the torture and then tattoo a message on him that says something like this. Aliens, I hope you found what you were looking for, because this individual found something out about us. Just remember this is what will happen to a lot more of you if you mess with Venicius."

"Right I'll send that with him when he's good and ready."

CHAPTER 15

"Sir, the Romulans have just declared war upon the Klingon empire." Reported Korban.

"War eh? I don't suppose we know who started it?"

"Well, sort of. I have a hard time believing it but apparently the klingons attacked a Romulan space station designated C-7."

"War eh? Well at least if they are fighting eachother I don't have to worry a lot about ticking either of them off. Thank you for informing me."

"What is the about the last report on our task force in the delta quadrant.?"

"Well sir, the latest report said they will be pushing on, the area is fairly secure, The Kayzon, although improved since the time of voyager are still behind the technology curve. The dominion has been apparently selling them upgrades for their equipment, but at a price. The price is that they keep us away from the dominion."

"What's the fleet's status?"

"Well, we need to ship them more infantry, but so far they still have 69 ships. Kayzon resistance is getting weaker. As for another task force it would be very helpful to authorize our civilian freighters to use transwarp drive."

"Well I don't know about that but, I think the fleet should purchase some of it's own freighters and equip them with transwarp, The private freighters will still be able to keep in business with the local work and we can speed up certain industries." Ordered Venicius.

"As you wish sir, oh we've begun construction on the second titan class ship." Said Korban.

Admiral Yarlis was looking at the strategic map. There were five noteworthy Kayzon strongholds left to break. As of the latest report the weakest was guarded by 11 ships and a battlestation. Yarlis knew he could take it and still hold on to the currently taken systems. He had control of three systems with guard of a minimum of 12 starships apiece. With 32 ships to play with taking the next system would be easy.

The only problem was it was relatively low priority to take. The best system to control was going to be a little harder to take over , JL-16. There were more ships in the area and the largest armies on the two planets yet. Twenty ships would make an adequate space force. Taking control of it would gain another striking point form which it would be easy to make attacks directly on the dominion and the other kayzon sectors. The reverse was true though, the Kayzon could launch attacks from several locations.

Yarlis planned to attack two other areas first and then take control of that sector. He was only willing to attack one more area before reinforcements could arrive. He knew that if he lessened the guard on any held territory the Kayzon would surely try to it take back.

Another option would be to use raiding tactics to draw the bulk of the Kayzon forces into a desired area for an ambush. Venicius had been in a hurry as of late and was going to want action. Yarlis finally made the decision to try to draw forces into his preferred target, JL-16. There were 19 ships in the sector at present, if the number could be brought up a bit more thirty Federation ships could blitz their fleet and do enough damage to prevent them from retaking any held territory.

Chapter 16

"Grand General Venicius this is Admiral Yarlis. We have severely damaged the Kayzon fleet and have taken yet another two starsytems. I dare not take anymore until we have more ships to secure what we have. Once they are here I believe it will be a simple matter to remove the last bit of Kayzon resistance and began our strike on the dominion. Why the Dominion have not tried to send any of their own ships as a counterattack I do not know. Please send reinforcements."

Venicius finished reading the report and went back to looking at the specification for a new weapon. The device was revolutionary, perhaps one day rendering phasers obsolete.

The device was called the thexar cannon. It fired a power blast of energy. The energy essentially operates on both a multi frequency basis. The frequence and polarization changes so rapidly that it occupies all of them at once. The power source was thexar based which is different than the power source used by phasers. The prototype proved to be generally four times as powerful as phaser counterparts.

It was large and only suitable for starship and turret use, but it was a potentially powerful weapon. Venicius ordered new ships to be redesigned to incorporate Thexar weaponary.

Venicius decided to compose a reply to Yarlis' request.

"Admiral We will only be able to send you a few ships, 20 at best. Bare in mind you are supposed to not only conquer the kayzon but you must control them. That means controlling their industries and building new federation ships in their space. I realize the their equipment isn't up to the task of building state of the art designs but you have enough engineers there to come up with something. After this campaign is over there will no doubt be federation colonies out there."

The federation's fleet was stretched between the wormhole guard and the delta quadrant force. Then venicius had a great idea, destroy the wormhole using the explosive charge generated by the new Tryllium reactor. Deep space 9 could be converted into a giant tryllium reactor and detonated inside the wormhole. That would free up a number of ships.

"Korban I want you to get the plans for that tryillium reactor those scientists were working with and install a larger version on deep space 9. Once that is done I will tell you what to do" Venicius ordered over the intercom.

The population of Bajor had literally dropped by half. Slaves were the main reason for the population drop. Thousands of them were being sold outside the federation. It was estimated that 30 were in mines, 20 worked in industry, another 20 worked in the timber industry, 10 worked in small businesses, 5 worked in homes and the rest were either used in military training or sold to foreign markets. One estimate said that of bajoran slaves 15 died in the 1st year of labor and industry. The same statistic said that most large work camps replaced their entire slave count every four years.

Venicius knew that other options were around but cardasians were rarely purchased as anything but work slaves, Kayzon weren't yet available in the alpha quadrant and it would be some time before they were.

Chapter 17

"Okay now, the reinforcement wave is ready to leave for the delta quadrant. Jariss I want you to go along to solidify Admiral Yarlis' work and help integrate the new territories. In another year this war may be over. The wormhole is about to be sealed, our recon indicates that the dominion is planning to combat us in the delta quadrant and not here at our border but I want to make sure they only engage us in the delta quadrant." Said Venicius.

Fifteen ships and more troops departed for the delta quadrant that day. Yarlis was poised to hit the rest of the dominion resistance and subjugate the entire area.

The modifications had been made to the station and it was ready to be sent carreening through the wormhole for self destruction. The plan was to detonate it past the halfway point. When the operation began everyone was anxious to see the results. The blast knocked out the wormhole and the collapse caused a level 20 shockwave at both ends. The wormhole was gone completely.

With the dominion now in a worse posistion than before the final conquest was easy. The dominion had very few ships to fight with and by this point there were only a few Kayzon left around. None of them were about to commit suicide for the dominion.

Part IV The time of peace to the end of the expansion war

"Excellent Jariss, I take it things are going well then. I think now we shall focus on building where we have destroyed. I am authorizing you to manage the new colony worlds that we no doubt will settle. Of course at the moment we can't risk spreading our ships out to far so choose only the better location to make into the new federation colonies."

"Okay sir, I take it the transports for the troops will now be moving civilians." Replied jariss.

"Some of them anyway and we won't begin until you decided it's suitable. Once you have some areas secured and made civilian safe let me know and I'll authorize transport to beging. Oh and we found out some more information about that spy. There a minor race called Khaundins, there no match for us technologically and certainly not in numbers. Far as I'm concerned they are a low priority right now. Also I'm going to wait awhile before conquering anyone else. We need to let ourselves breath a little and grow stronger before we attack our next target." Said venicius.

"Very good sir, might I inquire as to who our next target is? I can imagine the Romulans are larger now that they control certain old klingon territory. Also, what about the supposed klingon transwarp test?"

"Yes but no, I'm still working on the new Praetor, relations are improving but getting them to join us is not going to be easy. As for the klingon transwarp test it was successful but it came a little late soon everyone will have transwarp I might start authorizing a comercial model to be made. I have three other priorities before I consider them the next enemy. There's the hydrans the lyrans and the gorn. When we finally are ready we'll tell them to join the United Empire or die. Simple, once we have everything we need to win."

Chapter 18

Over the next five years colonies developed around the delta-gamma border. Venicius worked on improving his battle fleet and developing new technology. New ships were all fitted with transwarp and Thexar gunnery, though for awhile most ships used a thexar and phaser combination since thexar guns weren't 100 reliable yet.

New shielding systems developed, the semi-multi phasic shields were a start, they were actually alternating layers of shielding. Two layers was standard, each configured for a different frequency to optimize resistance to typical energy weapons.

The fleet had expanded considerably. Venicius begun the final plan for the federation.

"Well with any luck it will be done soon. I doubt I'll be around long enough to take control of this galaxy. Odds are the Federation will die as soon as I do because whoever succeeds in killing me won't have a clue what they are doing. That's why We are working on this backup plan. Correction, this is no backup plan, this is the plan." Said Venicius.

"Yes when the Morsai are ready we will release them, we have a prototype batch of nano probes ready for testing. Perhaps we should line up some expendables and begin testing them" Said Jariss.

"Very well, Jariss, you may begin when ready I know you can't betray me. Anyone else is a suspect except for those whom we've treated. Inform me immediately when you have the results from the first testing." Said Venicius.

"Let's get ready to deal with our neighboring civilizations soon. I think now we are about ready to begin. Sooner or later sombody is bound to try to kill me, the only gamble is wether or not his timing is any good. I'll order a large shipment of supplies prepared for the Morsai project. Hide it in the secret facility and see to it none of the researchers can escape. I'll arrange it so no one suspects that I'm involved with an evil plot to create a supper race until it's too late. Oh there are some reporters outside, I'll get rid of them. Talk later" Said Venicius

"Security, open fire on those damn reporters."

A moment later a gaurd shouted "Open fire!"

Phasers quickly vaporized the crowd of reporters. Needless to say nobody dared report the killing.

"Korban have the fleet prepared. In one week we go back to war. Then pass a law banning civilians from owning military spec weapons and make it illegal for private ships to be armed with starfleet spec weapons also, that goes for mercenaries as well."

"It will be done in under a week sir. Soon nobody will be able to oppose us!" Said Korban.

The orders were carried out in record time. In one week a massive fleet was sitting on the lyran border. The flying dutchman, ten titan class ships and fifty jackal destroyers were on standby.

"Broadcast this, Lyran star empire, Join the united empire and share in eternal victory or be subjugate and enjoy eternal slavery. You have one 24 hours to decide." Said venicius.

Time ticked by slowly but surely. The Lyrans didn't all respond at once. There were a few clans who agreed under the condition that they would be leaders of the conquered systems, but most refused. The next four months were filled with violent fighting. The Lyrans were mostly on the defensive but they managed to make some small, but partially successful counterattacks. In the end their resistance failed and Venicius had won again.

The war of expansion came to the hydran front. The Hyrdrans fought back for a full year. During that time the demise of the expansion was begining. The Romulan praetor was not about to risk be steamer rolled himself. He wasn't going to risk being the next target. He knew if he waited for anyone else to fall he would be next. He sent an emissary to the gorn confederation requesting an alliance. When the hyrdrans finally fell to Venicius there was a four month gap during which the romulans and the Gorn worked out their next plan.

From a tactical standpoint the federation was growing stronger with each conquest. It was now or never and therefore the Romulans and the Gorn confederation opened war against the federation.

Venicius used this opportunity to try and reclaim a number of minor federation breakoff groups. Although succeeding in reclaiming some other weren't retaken. In the end they actually played only a small part in the winning of the war. The only two worth mentioning were the Confederation of Races and the Republican Trade Federation.

The hard war was a long bloody one. Both sides took high casulities. The bulk of the fighting was taking place along the neutral zone. Ship losses numbered in the hundreds on both sides by the end of the war.

"Well Jariss this war is going well on this end. We might still win despite the losses. Admiral Cormak has been working along the neutral zone near the RTF front. Apparently he's been having severe trouble with some Romulan commander. It figures since the trade federation is being led by some terran-romulan half breed. Anyhow if Cormak can't deal with this Commander Praxius I'll have to send someone who can. But on the other fronts things seem to be going as well as can be expected." Said Venicius.

"I see. Well in the delta quadrant things are going nicely. The Morsai are going well and were eliminating the last flaws with the nano-probes."

"Good, Fleet Admiral Yarlis is planning to betray me. He thinks I don't know. I'll use this as a cover, once everyone assumes I'm dead I can assist on the project. I trust the secret laboratory is still secret?"

"Of course, no one actually knows the coordinates except you and me.

The rest have all been accounted for." Said Jariss.

"Good then. At the appropriate time I'll take the Flying Dutchman into battle with Yarlis and give him his chance to kill me. Only I won't be there, I'll have something else in my place." Said Venicius.

"Good plan. Then once the federation is finished with the war we will come right back and take perfect control." Said Jariss.

"Yes, I can't risk actually being killed this early. Once it's done I'll meet you at the lab. Make sure there are plenty of supplies stored away. The morsai will need a leader with a hundred lifetimes of training. Venicius out."

Venicius laid his plan down. If Yarlis was as shrewd as he looked he wouldn't miss the opportunity to betray him. Yarlis had been leaking infromation to the Romulans and a lone federation ship against Yarlis' titan class would be easy shooting. He would take it.

In case Yarlis didn't Venicius had his SS round bring him in to be subjected to the neural neutralizer. After his mental programing he was sent back to his ship.

Chapter 20

The Flying Dutchman went into battle a month after Venicius comunication with Jariss. Venicius had a double sent onboard with the press watching. As planned

Yarlis backstabbed the Flying Dutchman assuming Venicius was onboard which he wasn't able to verify completely once he had destroyed Venicius' ship.

Venicius had taken a private ship outfitted with transwarp drive and was headed for the laboratory.

"Foolish federation, I'll return, oh yes one day I'll be back." Venicius said to himself.

Venicius had other work to do. When he arrived at the lab the first thing he did was inspect the project. All the genetically enhanced individuals stood up as he walked by the barracks.

"How many are there?"

"Five hundred sir."

"And the assimilation cycle?"

"As far as our experiments have shown It's just about ready. But it's still very unreliable. People react differently to it, it needs further testing before we use it on a mass scale."

Don't worry. There is plenty of time for that. Soon a an army of supermen will take control of this galaxy and my task will be complete. Now then, on with your training."

THE END


End file.
